Every season, the Indian Premier League (IPL) arrives with its own challenges and fascinating stories. There are India’s regulars who become the mainstays of the franchises and look to deliver superstar performances. There are rookies and fringe players who look to announce themselves during the league and become household names with their performances.
And then, there are established players who look forward to reaffirming the superstar status that is challenged by the fast-paced evolution of T20 cricket. Despite their proven skills, they must adjust their game to remain competitive and retain spots in national teams, showing that even seasoned players must adapt to stay relevant. Shubman Gill is one such name ahead of the IPL 2026.
Since the 2018-19 season, Shubman Gill has emerged as the face of Indian cricket, as the torchbearer of the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. He has already displayed his calibre in both Test matches and ODIs, notably during the last England tour, where he scored 754 runs and helped his team secure a 2-2 series result.
Gill, who has established a name for himself since the beginning, remained part of India’s T20 International squad until December 2025, after which he was dropped and overtaken in selection by aggressive batters like Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson. Gill’s talent and technique as a batter have never been questioned. His leadership experience includes captaining the national team against Zimbabwe and serving as vice-captain during the 2025 Asia Cup.
The make-or-break for Shubman Gill
However, his capability and mindset to bat aggressively from ball one, like some of his peers in the national team, were always questioned. In 36 T20I matches, he maintained an average of 28.03 and a strike rate of 138.59. In IPL, the average improves significantly to 39.44, but the strike rate remains almost identical at 138.71. With the changing demand for T20 cricket, a sub-140 strike rate does not sit well with the world’s top teams.
In the upcoming IPL, therefore, Gill will look to find a way to up the tempo from the very beginning. Last year, in his Gujarat Titans team, he, along with Jos Buttler and Sai Sudharsan, scored the bulk of the runs with all three of them crossing the 500-run mark during the season, a first in the IPL for a single team. However, Gill’s strike rate of 155.87 was the third amongst the three, and although he will look to do an encore, his goal would be to score at a much better pace and put the pressure on the opposition from the very beginning while batting.
A major narrative for IPL 2026, therefore, will center on Shubman Gill’s evolution — specifically how he navigates the high-speed shifts in the T20 format as he fights to reclaim his spot in the national squad.
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